DMPQ- What do you mean by Local Area Network (LAN)? Explain its applications.

Local Area Network (LAN)

It is also called LAN and designed for small physical areas such as an office, group of buildings or a factory. LANs are used widely as it is easy to design and to troubleshoot. Personal computers and workstations are connected to each other through LANs. We can use different types of topologies through LAN, these are Star, Ring, Bus, Tree etc.

LAN can be a simple network like connecting two computers, to share files and network among each other while it can also be as complex as interconnecting an entire building.

LAN networks are also widely used to share resources like printers, shared hard-drive etc.

Applications of LAN

One of the computer in a network can become a server serving all the remaining computers called clients. Software can be stored on the server and it can be used by the remaining clients.

Connecting Locally all the workstations in a building to let them communicate with each other locally without any internet access.

Sharing common resources like printers etc are some common applications of LAN.